Rumors for Session Eleven

Thank you for rescuing me from this terrible prison. Really.

1. The Mad Dogs recently suffered a set-back adventuring near Threshold. They plan to seek treatment from the Sisters of Fire and Water.
2. Vampires are stealing young women in Ishpeming
3. There has been an increase in the number of undead seen near Threshold
4. A mad wizard who kept a tower near Threshold has disappeared
5. The Torenscu murdered Lucia Vorloi when she turned their marriage proposal down
6. The docks at Pechen often use Vodayanoi to load ships

It is December 28, 79. The weather is cloudy and chilly, with a bit of a breeze.

Rumors for Session 10

1. The Chapterhouse of the Priestesshood of Gwynnyth is seeing fewer wounded adventures than they used to, probably because the Sisters of Fire and Water are doing such a great job.
2. Vampires are stealing young women in Ishpeming
3. There has been an increase in the number of undead seen near Threshold
4. Ishpeming is well known for its beer
5. The Torenscu murdered Lucia Vorloi when she turned their marriage proposal down
6. The docks at Pechen often use Vodayanoi to load ships

It is clear and cool, this December 27, 79.

Goblin Wars: Festival of St. Lucia

Lucia Vorloi

Vincent, Vasily, and Darwin decided to sell the boat they had found and head to Pechen to reconnect with Ieho. When they arrive in Pechen, it is December 25th, the feast of St. Lucia. Lady Magda Torenescu was chosen by the duke to lead the procession this year, representing the saint in a sedan chair carried by eight members of her house. The Torenescu were some of the most important nobles in Pechen before Mikulas Mathias came to found Pechen. Since then, their fortunes have declined, but the house is still quite important.

As the parade passed by the trio, a fight broke out between the bearers of the Lady Magda and some members of house Radu who were trying to cross the street. The Radu are likely the most powerful house in Pechen currently, but dark rumors dog them. The Raduites accuse the chair-bearers of hogging the streets, while the Torenescu point out that it's for St. Lucia, a fact that does not impress the Radu. It begins to look like violence is imminent, but Vasily intervened on behalf of the Torenescu. The day ended with a visit by the wood-worker Theodosius to Ieho's house, who hinted he might have some work soon for the Cobalt Cavers.

The next day, a widow known to Ieho stopped by. She had heard strange noises coming from her cellar, but the police couldn't be troubled to investigated. She wondered if Ieho and his friends could help. The Cavers look, and they find a series of tunnels underneath the widow's house. There were a few hobgoblins, whipping on a small group of humans who were doing the actual tunneling. The hobgoblins were driven off in short order, and the humans freed. With some further investigation, they found the tunnels to be quite extensive. Not to mention interesting. In a cavern off of the main tunnels, they found two men burying a body. Once they were driven off, the party investigated the body. It was Lucia Vorloi.

The Vorloi are the third major house of Pechen. They arrived with the duke when Mikulas Mathias was looking for Fogelanders to help him turn Morachi into his kingdom. They've become rich through their trading and influence with the duke. The Radu resent them for being their main competition. The Torenescu resent them for not recognizing their obvious nobility. The Cavers went to the constabulary, who immediately subjected them to a clerical interogation. When they were found to be innocent, the police asked for their help investigating.

The next day, the Cavers began their investigation. Lucia lived with her father, Fortunato Vorloi. Fortunato has been on a trading trip for some weeks. Inside there are signs of violence -- a dagger and bloodstains on the floor, broken dishes and furniture, and torn clothing. There are several drops of a brownish liquid among the bloodstains whih Vincent is able to identify as wine. The dagger is crusted with dried blood, and there are a few strands of red hair dried in the blood. There is a signet ring belonging to the Torenescu family near the door to the cellar, and small bits of pitch stuck to the rungs of the ladder.

The Cavers went back into the tunnels from the Vorloi house, and find a group of kobolds holding a support beam. The kobolds cried out for help, and Vasily and Geoff run up to help with the beam. The kobolds laugh and let go of the beam, attacking the party. Fortunately, the party is able to make short work of them. From there, the party was able to follow the tunnels to a small house. The house is a guest house owned by a butcher named Turano. He had rented it to a traveling blacksmith named Skevlos, who left the house on the 24th. There are muddy tracks on the floor leading to the trap door, and a bottle of dark wine consistent with the stains at the crime scene. The bottle has the seal of Tuscan Estates, a Fogelish wine. Inside the desk is a black leather hood with red hairs.

The party went back into the tunnels, but other than fighting a trio of zombies, did not find anything of note.

Pre-Session Nine Rumors

1. The Chapterhouse of the Priestesshood of Gwynnyth is seeing fewer wounded adventures than they used to, probably because the Sisters of Fire and Water are doing such a great job.
2. A young woman has disappeared in Ishpeming
3. There has been an increase in the number of undead seen near Threshold
4. Ishpeming is well known for its beer
5. It is almost time for the festival of St. Lucia. The big parade is in Pechen
6. The docks at Pechen often use Vodayanoi to load ships

It is the 24th of December. It is clear and cool, with a light wind.

Session Eight: The Secret of Ishpeming

Having arrived in Ishpeming, Darwain, Vasily, and Vincent spend a week looking for henchmen. While looking, they hear rumors of a haunted house outside of town, and strange lights dancing on the water. They don't find any suitable henchmen, but decide to investigate the manse.

The house is on a cliff overlooking the water, and there are two obvious doors to get inside. So naturally, the party, led by Darwain, decided to rappel down the cliff. At the base of the cliff is a cave which the Cavers decide to investigate. There is a boat beached on the shore inside of the cave, but when the party goes in to investigate, they make too much noise, and men from the next room spill in and attack. The fight is in general a show of incompetence on both sides, but the party manages to defeat them. There is only one casualty on the party's side -- Vincent took an axe blow to the head, leaving him with a scar. The party decides to head back to town to recuperate.

While back in town, the party hears of a missing girl, and decides to investigate. They find out that the girl was named Marlena, and had a best friend named Elsa. Sadly, recent rains ruined any chance of finding tracks. They met up with Elsa, a teenage girl, and Darwain threatened her into revealing her secret. Marlena had recently met a dark handsome stranger, in rich if somewhat out of date attire. Marlena had been intrigued, but Elsa didn't think Marlena would have run off with him. With no more leads, the party decided to go back to the smugglers lair, using the boat they had found.

When the Cobalt Cavers got back to the lair, there were three men on the shore, waiting for them. The Cavers were greeted with a hail of arrows. However, thanks to the cover they had from the boat, none of the arrows hit home, and the Cavers' return fire ended that threat. The party ventured deeper into the lair, finding a number of trade goods. This must be a pirate lair! Exploring further, they fail to notice someone sneaking up behind them and Vincent is charmed by the enemy wizard. The wizard withdraws behind his guards, and combat is engaged. Vincent attempts to tackle Darwain, to prevent his new 'friend' from being hurt, but is not successful. While they struggle, Vasily makes short work of the wizard's bodyguards, and the wizard surrenders.

The wizard, it turns out, is named Sanbalet. The Cavers briefly consider trying to hire him on, but decide that's a bad idea. They let him go after he shows them the secrets of his lair. The party loots the house, and returns to Ishpeming.

Rumors for Session 8

The Missing Young Woman (by Mongibello)

Last time, the party slew a mighty dragon, and retrieved much treasure. After dealing with that treasure, they left Solove to Pechen, where Ieho bought a townhouse, and continued on to Ishpeming. There, they heard rumors of a haunted house, and lights out on the bay, and decided to investigate.

1. The Chapterhouse of the Priestesshood of Gwynnyth is seeing fewer wounded adventures than they used to, probably because the Sisters of Fire and Water are doing such a great job.
2. A young woman has disappeared in Ishpeming
3. There is a coven of elven witches near Lesnime
4. Ishpeming is well known for its beer
5. There have been very few raids from the orc barbarians over the past few years.
6. Skilled thieves often make use of a Hand of Glory to commit their crimes

It is the 1st of December, 79. It is cool and partly cloudy.

Session Seven: From Darwain's Perspective

Following their encounter with the yappy kobolds across the lava bridges, the party decided to regroup and rest. Figuring a position upstream would be more easily defensible, or at least harder to sneak up on, a watch was set and the recuperation began. During their new ally Vasily's watch, a loud splashing and grumbling was heard. Awaking his comrades, the fighting man shone his lantern at the source of the noise to find a hungry ogre! After some quick talking, the party were able to convince the ogre that a less dangerous, albeit stringier meal was downstream: kobolds. The rest of the night passed uneventfully except for the disappearance of Bob the cleric.

The following morning, Darwin proposed a new strategy to avoid the kobolds, "Just go left." After a number of branches and intersections, the party found themselves at the bottom of a rock slide. Beginning to climb it, Darwin heard the telltale rattle of a snake. Not one to meddle with poison if avoidable, he doused the area in military oil and lit it up. After a few minutes, the fire died down, and there was no snake to be found.

Some number of left turns later, the group found some unusual sleeping lizards between them and a heavy stone door. Very carefully skirting the lizards, the party was able to force the door open. Inside was a small room holding a skeleton clad in plate armor, a sword, and some arrows. Guessing by the apparent lack of wear on the sword and armor that they were magical, Vasily reequipped himself courtesy of this room's long-dead occupant. Finding themselves at a dead end, the group searched for hidden passages, and Ieho found one. Opening it, the group found themselves at the tail end of a slumbering red dragon atop a huge mound of treasure!

After a strategical retreat and lengthy discussion, it was decided that if the red dragon stood between them and freedom, it would have to go. Furthermore, if it had to go, this backdoor should form part of their strategy for defeating it. Before that, however, a search for other exits was to be conducted. Turning around and sticking to their always go left policy, they found the scorched remains of some kobolds. Assuming these to be the dragon's handiwork, and not wanting to reveal themselves to the dragon, the group backtracked. They found a couple of staircases leading down, which they ignored, not wanting to plunge deeper into the earth than the lair of a dragon.

They then found a magically blackened room. Darwain entered silently, and made his way around the left wall, and back out the door. Having heard no noise from within and found no other exits, he invited his party to help him search for secret doors in the dark. All seemed fruitless, and they were about to leave, when Vasily tripped over something. Dragging it out into the light, it was another skeleton, but this one had a backpack. Within were several large potions and a scroll. Recalling his extensive medical training, Darwain attempted to identify the potions by taste. He recognized one as two doses of healing potion, couldn't place the taste of the second, and knew the last one to be two doses of invisibility. The party mused that the dragon didn't seem as daunting with these in tow.

Checking the rest of the corridors they had skipped, they snuck up behind two separate kobold snipers atop cliffs looking down, and quickly dispatched them before they could react. Further exploration yielded no sign of an exit other than the one spotted in the dragon's den, so they backtracked to the secret doorway. After some tactical debate involving the potions and positioning, the group concealed themselves as best they could and took the snoozing dragon by surprise. Two bolts, from the arbalests of hidden Darwain and Ieho, seemed to strike true in the dragon's most vulnerable spots, and with that, the beast was slain before it could act. After a great deal of celebration and treasure counting, the group followed the dragon-sized tunnel and even the dwarves were grateful to find fresh air and sunlight greeting them at the end.

The companions debated a party name as they returned to Solove without incident. Once there, they proceeded to make a great deal of investments and attempted to identify and sell some of their magical loot. Not finding a sage capable of the identification, they did find a wizard who was willing to bargain. He identified their items in exchange for a magical scroll they had found and one (reasonable) favor to be named at a later date.

After some listening for rumors and other carousing, the party heard that the Mad Dogs had headed back to Threshhold after clearing out the goblin den that had claimed Honest Mercy. They also heard that there was adventure to be had in Ishpeming, and there was some witchcraft afoot in Lesnime. Seeing as Ishpeming would give them a chance to pass through Pechen and try selling their merchandise again, they decided to embark in that direction. In Pechen, Ieho purchased a townhouse with a laboratory, and crafted his first mechanical man. With this new automaton in tow, the group headed for Ishpeming and tried to learn more about the adventure opportunity therein.

Rumors of a haunted house on the edge of town were swirling, and the group secured an interview with a member of the village council, Ivan. He gave them the location of the house and some foreboding warnings, which our hearty adventurers promptly disregarded, and they set out to explore the property....